Apparatus by which a baseball is mechanically thrown or pitched to a batter has been proposed in the prior art as evidenced by the U.S. Pats. to McMillan, No. 1,203,027; Butler, No. 1,344,378; Pilates, No. 1,785,876; Mauney, No. 1,825,882; Richter, No. 2,153,315; and Calabrese, No. 2,318,139.
Some baseball-pitching devices of the prior art are oversimplified and therefore fail to generate the various different forces required so that the resultant components thereof cause the baseball to travel along a trajectory which is reproducable and which simulates the actual throwing of a baseball by a baseball pitcher.
Other baseball-pitching apparatus of the prior art is extremely complex and expensive, as exemplified by Andersen U.S. Pat. No. 3,128,752; Laney U.S. Pat. No. 3,213,843; and Mitchell U.S. Pat. No. 3,777,733.
A baseball-pitching apparatus which can be manipulated by a batter with no assistance from anyone else would be desirable. Moreover, it is desirable that such a device be simple but dependable in operation and low in cost. It is also desirable that the apparatus have the provision by which the trajectory of the baseball can be reproducably controlled so that each time the apparatus is actuated, the ball assumes the same relative path of flight as it travels across the batter's plate.
Most prior art baseball-pitching devices are extremely complex and expensive; therefore, the average "little league" baseball player cannot avail himself of this desirable mechanism. It would therefore be desirable to provide a baseball-pitching apparatus which will enable the average "little leaguer" to practice in his own back yard, unassisted by anyone else. Furthermore, hitting a loose ball about the neighborhood is to be discouraged because of the possibility of incurring property damage. Therefore it is desirable to provide a baseball-pitching device which obviates this undesirable possibility.